The Runt of the Litter

Glass Lives

Note: 

YOU GUYS!

A fantastic wattpader just gave me an incredible gift... She drew pictures to go with some chapters. And I'm adding them because she said I could and because she did such a good job and they're too perfect not to share. Thank you SO MUCH @Musicpotterhead, you're a goddess.

Tap on the photo to see the whole thing, guys, they're all beautiful. And I'm putting this message at the beginning of each chapter that has an image, so you all take a second and look at them. And tell Musicpotterhead how amazing she is. Because she is. She's amazing.

Thank you so much to everyone who's read, voted, and commented! Over the course of the last two weeks, the story flew past 200 votes, which means SO much to me!

*hugs everybody because you're all so sweet and perfect*

Phew. Okay, I'm tired. But I had to finish this for today. Since it's technically already Saturday and I intend to sleep long and hard now that I'm done writing this, I'm posting now rather than late morning tomorrow. Enjoy this (almost) 2AM update.

This chapter needs a little more of a heads up than most because it's pretty important to Anna's character and her story, so I highly suggest reading this note (long and chaotic as it may be), but skip it if you so please.

This is written in the third person personal perspective (as most of my writing is), but the character whose perspective you read will switch from section to section. I normally write pretty exclusively with Anna as the focal point, but for the sake of this very important chapter, I felt it was important to show a couple of other perspectives.

I originally planned to post a chapter on Anna's mother for chapter 50 or some other epic (*cough* overrated *cough*) number, but this was written for a request by the brilliantly kind and thoughtful reader, Sleepingcat0, who wanted to know about Chloe and some of her thoughts and feelings about parenthood and meeting John. I kind of like that an important chapter wound up buried at number 36, anyway. The best stuff happens unexpectedly in chapter 36 😉

ANYWAY, this is a really long chapter and few pieces of it have been alluded to in other chapters, because I've known this plotline for a while now. I just hadn't written it out. This follows both a plot in the present day and the timeline surrounding Anna's birth and the demise of her mother. Some big shit goes down, so I hope you've got your battle armor (aka a cozy sweater, a comfy seat, and a cup of hot coffee ☕️).

So, in the 'present' sections of this chapter, Anna is fifteen. Other sections will explain their time frame within the writing, so just read closely if you're concerned with dates or ages.

Glass Lives

"Morning, Maya," a short woman with cropped graying hair told her as she entered the elevator.

She just nodded a short greeting, knowing animosity would be detrimental to the mission but unsure how to carry on any sort of small talk. She'd been so low in the ranks for so long, and she was taking no chances on screwing this up. She was playing a tricky game as it was, and any minor failures could finish with disaster, up-ending everything.

"Maya," a middle aged man smiled at her and nodded in greeting as they passed on the fourth floor hallway.

"I love that blouse," said the twenty-something receptionist as she walked into the office.

"Thank you," she returned with a smile she hoped was more pleasant than ravenous. She hadn't seen this many people in ages. It made her hungry for something she couldn't have just now. But if she performed well enough, she would see the next phase, and in that kingdom, she would be free to take what she wanted. She burrowed herself deeper into the mind of her temporary placement. She didn't think much of people, as a general rule, but accountants were the most boring people on the planet.